WHO DAT: Caesars Superdome kicked off the NFL season after completing its five-year, $560 million renovation project. (Jenn Devereaux)
2024 VenuesNow All-Star Renovation
Caesars Superdome | New Orleans, Louisiana
The iconic Superdome has shown that you don’t have to start over to get a new football stadium, as the home of the Saints debuted its new look and feel following a five-year, $560 million renovation project.
The project modernized a 50-year-old structure symbolic of the New Orleans community, a tool of survival that saved hundreds of lives after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005.
Who Dat nation opened the 2024 NFL season with a bang as a 47-10 drubbing of the Carolina Panthers on Sept. 8 set the stage for a new era at the Superdome.
“The Superdome and St. Louis Cathedral are the two iconic buildings in New Orleans,” said Saints President Dennis Lauscha in a recent VenuesNow cover story. “It’s a testament to the folks that designed the stadium many years ago. It’s been remarkable and it still serves our needs very well.”
The support of the team’s fans went a long way toward the decision to renovate rather than build anew, as a statewide survey six years ago saw 80% of respondents preferring a renovation over a new building.
“The pollster we used (with Market Research Insight) told us in all the years he had done this, he’s never seen a policy so universally supported,” said Evan Holmes, the Superdome’s general manager for ASM Global.
The centerpiece of the most recent upgrades was removing two pedestrian ramps, which had become a cumbersome mode of transit. The elimination of those ramps resulted in reclaiming 100,000 square feet of public space, allowing architects to map out new atriums with escalators to move fans quickly and effectively to the building’s upper levels.
The newfound space also translated to wider concourses, the introduction of grab-and-go concessions with 18 “Market Pantry” destinations, plus new restrooms and two new team stores across multiple levels.
On the 200 level, bars stretching 40 yards in length flank the sidelines, branded for Crown Royal and Bud Light.
The size of both watering holes, armed with a bevy of bartenders, effectively reduces lines for fans buying adult beverages.
The 300-level suites were renovated and their interior spaces expanded to twice their original size. At event level, the new Mercedes-Benz End Zone Bar replaced the old visitors’ locker room in the north end zone, which was relocated elsewhere at that level.
The new bar supports 10 rows of club seat holders in that end, plus patrons inhabiting the dozen bunker suites, which were among the first renovations completed three years ago.
The Superdome is the “shiniest new penny,” as Lauscha says, or better yet, a sparkly 50-cent piece, considering its age.
“To get governmental support and prove to the taxpayers of Louisiana that we’re doing it in a way that’s prudent as it relates to stadiums — we’re seeing the benefits,” Lauscha said. “Super Bowl is coming back (Feb. 9, 2025), which will provide an enormous economic benefit right away, and we’re in perfect position for Final Fours.” — Don Muret
